market can usually be done fairly quickly by holding a series of brief
meetings with senior executives. The key steps are:
● Identify the relevant groups within the influence market.
● Break down these groups into appropriate subgroups.
● Determine their relative importance and potential to have a positive or
negative impact on the organization. (Some of the frameworks used in
stakeholder theory^22 can be used to assist in this process. For example,
constituent groups in the influence market domain can be categorized
as ones of primary and secondary importance. They can also be cate-
gorized in matrices based on their likely positive or negative impact
upon the organization.)
● A relationship marketing network diagram (spidergram) can then be
used to identify the present and desired emphasis that should be placed
on each constituent group. The level of detail in and structure of the
spidergram will depend on the number of constituent groups within
these market domains. If an organization wishes to address a large
number of markets it can first construct a spidergram based on the
broad categories described above. A second level of analysis can then
be undertaken for each broad category. For example, the financial
market category can then be broken down into constituent groups,
such as City analysts, institutional investors, etc. and then a further spi-
dergram can be used to consider them.
● Develop a written market audit for each group. (Usually this can be
done in a maximum of two pages. The structure of a situation review
can follow closely that used in the marketing planning process.)
● The other steps in the marketing planning process,^23 with appropriate
modification, can then be used to focus on achieving the specific market
objectives that are set for each group within the influence market
domain.
● An appropriate measurement and monitoring system is put in place.
The use of a rigorous marketing planning process has the potential
to develop a relational approach with the groups within the influ-
ence market domain that is superior and different in emphasis and
impact when compared with the tasks of communicating and influ-
encing suggested by much of the public relations literature.
The referral and influence market domains 245